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Canadians Limit U.s. Programs

November 24, 1995|By David Elsner

TORONTO — The Canadian Broadcasting Corp., a dominant force on the nation's airwaves, said Thursday it will drop all U.S. shows from its prime-time TV schedule in a bid to protect its identity and boost home-grown production.

The move, to take effect next fall, coincides with the most wrenching budget cuts ever undertaken by the publicly-funded CBC. It is under federal orders to slash spending over the next 18 months by $168 million, one-sixth of its budget, and says up to 2,000 of its 9,000 employees face layoffs.

Ironically, the CBC will lose money by dropping the 2 1/2 hours of Hollywood programming it now shows each week between 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. But CBC President Perrin Beatty said the move was part of a broader effort to give the network a more distinctly Canadian identity.